reflections first. pictures later.
After six days in my car, driving from Alaska to Minnesota, I arrived home yesterday morning. The trip wasn't as I had expected, with hiking, camping, fishing, and biking, basically because I'm too much of a wuss to do those things on my own. The first night of camping I was completely restless, afraid of every sound, wondering if it was a bear or a man or whatever. Lola was jumpy too.
But it was a disappointing trip either.
Yesterday afternoon, I took my bike down the road a few miles (and over about 50 hills) to sit on the shore of Perch Lake, a lake I haven't been to since I was probably seven. It's a small lake that doesn't allow motor boats, so as you can imagine, perfectly serene. It was here that I began to reflect over my cross-continent odyssey.
I drove over half the length of the North American continent and saw beauty that words scarce describe: infinite, snow-capped mountains, Caribbean-colored lakes and rives surrounded by more snowy peaks, steaming hot springs nestled into nature's bosom, the towering rocky cliffs of Banff shrouded in smoke from a nearby fire, wide open prairies lit only by the silver light of the moon, rich green fields existing in perfect equality with the pure blue of the sky, Earth's passion displayed in her firey sunsets over mountains, prairies, and inevitably the concrete city.
Through each new landscape I drove, I said, "I'm going to live here someday." Yeah right, I'd have to live until 200 to make that possible. With the limitless time I had to think in my car, I came up with a list of all the things I want to do. Here's an abbreviated list:
::own a ranch out west- with horses and dogs and chickens and everything else
::live in rural hawaii, learn how to surf, and get around on a horse
::have an urban job and a city life
::live off the grid in a house I built with my own hands
::travel, teach English in remote corners of the world (only because that's the most convinient job in a foreign country)
::join the Peace Corp
::buy a house and live close to home to be near my family and friends and watch my nephew grow up
::have a family in any or all of these places
But honestly, all these dreams aside, I love where I'm at and what I'm doing. I suppose I'll be here (in Alaska) until I find and feel that it's time to move on.
The most content I'd been since my road trip started was the hour I spent sitting at Perch Lake, reflecting on my journey and life in general. Here's what I'll take away from the entire experience:
We can search the world over looking for beauty and for life, but really it's right here, out the back door, we need only to recognize it and throw ourselves into it.